MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

Mr Wong Kan Seng Minister for Home Affairs

1. The Ministry will maintain a safe, secure and socially healthy environment for citizens. The Home Team approach unites all departments and statutory boards with a common vision to achieve world class professionalism. The Home Team will work closely with citizens to ensure their continued safety.

Public Programmes, Policies and Plans

2. MHA will focus on the following areas:

Working Closely with the Community

a. The Police will revamp the Neighbourhood Policing system to work more effectively with grassroots organisations, community agencies and neighbourhood groups.

Emergency Management

b. MHA will develop capabilities to counter new forms of terrorist attacks and to manage industrial accidents involving hazardous materials. Shelter Programme

c. New shelters will be built in underground stations along the North-East MRT line. Legislation will be introduced to make household shelters compulsory in all new residential developments.

Drug Abuse

d. We will combat drug abuse by combining preventive education, enforcement and rehabilitation. We will introduce legislation for long term imprisonment of drug addicts who are caught for the third time, to deter hard-core addiction.

e. The Central Narcotics Bureau will step up enforcement action and preventive education measures to pre-empt the abuse of psychotropic drugs like Ecstasy and Ice.

f. The National Council Against Drug Abuse will co-ordinate preventive drug education programmes, which will target high-risk groups. Community and voluntary welfare organisations, schools, parents and MUIS will all be actively involved.

Service Quality

g. Immigration Checkpoint operations at the Airport, Woodlands and Tuas (end 1997) will be upgraded to use the latest information technology. Travel by land to Malaysia will be faster with the new Checkpoints at Tuas and Woodlands.

h. NRICs can be issued on-the-spot. Applications for Birth/Death certificate extracts can be made by post and the Internet. There will be more one-stop services when Singapore Immigration and NRD move to new premises in 1997.

Juvenile Delinquency

i. The Police will work closely with the Ministry of Community Development, schools and voluntary welfare organisations to counter incipient juvenile delinquency. Young offenders will be given a choice between prosecution and 6 months of Guidance and Counselling. School disciplinary masters will be appointed honorary Volunteer Special Constabulary Inspectors or Assistant

Superintendents of Police to bolster their authority to manage problematic students.

j. Prisons and the MCD will pilot a project to electronically tag Reformative Trainees under statutory supervision to test its effectiveness in rehabilitating and reintegrating young offenders into society more quickly.

Development and Management Programme

3. To be a professional, operational organisation, delivering top quality service to the public, MHA will:

Develop New Operations Concepts and Capabilities

a. A major Masterplanning exercise will revamp key operational concepts and processes.

b. Work processes are being streamlined, re-designed or even eliminated to improve productivity and service quality.

c. MHA will invest heavily in technology, especially information technology, across the board. The Police's Cubicon (Command, Control and Communication System) project will give the Police, SCDF and CNB new joint operations capabilities.

d. A new Law Enforcement Academy will combine training for Police, SCDF, CNB, Prisons, Immigration and other law enforcement officers, including the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau, Customs, and Auxiliary Police Forces. Centralised training will save resources, build the Home Team culture, and foster camaraderie among law enforcement officers nationwide.